Reunion
by Misha
Summary: After twenty years Lilly Kane, the second, ends up at the door of a woman she can't remember, but has heard so much about.
1. Part One: Mother and Child Reunion

Reunion  
By Misha

Disclaimer- I don't own anything to do with "Veronica Mars", I really wish I did, but I don't. It belongs to Rob Thomas and the UPN. I'm not making any money off of this, so please don't sue me.

Author's Notes- This story just sort of popped into my mind. It's set in the far future, about twenty years after "Donut Run", though this is more or less in cannon with the rest of the second season (it doesn't really come up). It's a little odd, but I think it's sweet. It focuses on Lilly, Duncan's daughter. You'll probably be able to tell from reading this, that I'm a huge DuV fan. Sorry, I just think they're so sweet. That's all for now, enjoy!

Pairing- Duncan/Veronica.

Summery- After twenty years Lilly Kane the second ends up at the door of a woman she can't remember, but has heard so much about.

Spoilers- Up to "Donut Run".

Rating- PG

* * *

Part One: Mother and Child Reunion

Lilly stood in the doorway, wondering what she was about to do. She was about to see her mother. Well, not her real mother, but...

Lilly stood there, wondering if she should turn around, after all the woman on the other end was no relation to her and hadn't seen her since she was a baby, but all the same... She was the woman Lilly had always thought of as her mother.

Her life had never been simple. She'd grown up, moving around a lot, and it wasn't until she was a teenager that she'd understood. It was then that her father had explained the circumstances of her birth and why there would never be a real _home_ for them.

Long before that though, he'd started telling her about her two mothers. The one that had died bringing her into the world and the other one, the one that had helped save her. It was the second one that he talked about the most, showed her pictures of, always refereed to as her mother. When she was old enough and he told her the truth about their existence, he explained those two complicated relationships. How one woman had given her life, but in her father's mind, she had always belonged to another woman. For herself, Lilly had to admit she always thought of that woman as her mother too.

She'd slept with her picture on her bedside table for as long as she could remember, read every word of the too-few letters until they were imprinted into her memory, and now at the age of twenty she was about to meet her for the first time.

Lilly wondered again if she was crazy. It had been twenty years, surely Veronica Mars had long forgotten about whatever connection she might have felt for her ex-lover's love child. Except, the last letter had come only the year before and had still referred to Lilly as 'our daughter', so maybe she would want this meeting as much as Lilly.

Lilly shook her head and knocked on the door. There was only one way to find out.

After a minute, a blonde woman, an older version of the woman in those few precious photos, opened the door. There was a long moment of silence as the woman just stared at her. "Lilly?" She said finally. "Oh, God, Lilly!"

Then she wiped away whatever doubts Lilly might have had and wrapped her in her arms.

"Mom." Lilly whispered, clinging to the woman.

After a moment, Veronica lead her into the house and to the living room. They sat there on the coach, there hands joined, just staring at one another.

"Oh, Lilly." Veronica whispered, running her hands through her hair. "Your prettier than your pictures."

"You have pictures of me?" Lilly asked her, not sure why she was suprised since she knew her father and Veronica had kept in touch, when they could, which wasn't often given he'd been wanted by the police.

Veronica nodded. "A few. Duncan managed to send me one every few years, a long with a letter letting me know you two were okay, always through several different contacts, so it couldn't be traced."

"He kept all your letters." Lilly told her. "He read them all to me. I remember every word."

"I wanted to go with you." Veronica told her. "But... Your father wouldn't let me... There have been a lot of times over the years, I wished I'd tried harder."

Lilly wondered if she was dreaming. Veronica Mars was saying everything she had always dreamed of hearing and she was so beautiful and warm... Surely, it couldn't be real?

"I didn't give birth to you." Veronica told her. "But I guess I always..."

"I know." Lilly told her. "Dad was honest. He told me about Meg and you and everything as soon as he thought I was older enough to understand and he told me about you long before that, always called you my mother. Because, he thought of you that way."

Veronica froze. "How can you be here?" She asked suddenly. "Duncan... It's not safe. There's no statute."

Lilly closed her eyes, wondering how she was going to give the bad news. "Dad died." She said softly. "Last month--it was a car accident. It was then, that I decided to come back to the States and find you. After all, I thought..."

Veronica started to cry. "Duncan..." She whispered. Then she held out her arms and embraced Lilly. "I'm glad you came to me." She told her. "I'm so glad to see you."

Lilly snuggled into the warm embrace that she had been dreaming of all her life.

_"Your mommy is the most beautiful woman in the world." Duncan Kane told his four year-old daughter. "She's smart and brave and just completely amazing. Like you."_

_"Why isn't she here?" Lilly asked. "Shouldn't my mommy be here with us?"_

_Duncan smiled sadly. "Because sometimes even if you love somebody and they love you, you can't be together and even though your mommy loves us very much, she has to be somewhere else."  
_  
Duncan had told her that over and over, his voice always soft and sad when he spoke of the woman he loved.  
_  
"You have two mommies." Duncan told Lilly._

_"Two?" The six year-old asked in confusion. "Then why isn't one here?"_

_"Your first mommy, the one you gave birth to you, had to go to Heaven." Duncan explained. "Your other Mommy, the one from the letters, well she can't be with us, but she loves us very much."  
_  
Lilly hadn't really understood the idea of having two mommies and neither of them being with her, but it was a complicated idea for a child to comprehend.  
_  
/My Darling,_

_I think of you often, you and our daughter. I find it hard to believe four years have passed since I saw you both. Sometimes, I wake up thinking you'll be next to be and she'll be down the hall. But, of course, it's just a dream._

_College graduation is next week and you know, I'd give it all up to be with you. I still wish you had let me leave with you, but I know why you didn't. I'll be thinking of you, of our daughter, of... during graduation, wishing you were there to watch or better yet, that I was with you._

_I love you both so much._

_Forever./ _

Lilly had read that letter, one of only a few Veronica had been able to send, a million times as she got older. It was a precious link to her mother.

_"From the moment I knew of your existence, I thought of you as ours, mine and Veronica's. I knew it wasn't fair to Meg, but... To me, you were never hers, you were always Veronica's." Duncan told his daughter softly._

_"You love her." Fourteen year-old Lilly said quietly._

_"'Til the day I die." Duncan said quietly, he looked at Lilly. "You might not have been conceived in that love, but you were born into it. In every way that mattered, you belonged to us both."  
_  
That had been when Duncan had told her the truth about her birth and the circumstances of their life.

"What are you thinking?" Veronica asked softly.

"About you." Lilly said honestly. "I've waited to meet you for so long."

"I've dreamed of this day." Veronica told her, then smiled sadly. "Only one thing could make it better."

Lilly knew that Veronica was referring to her father and she wished feverently that the three of them could have been together, just once. But, it wasn't meant to be. Veronica Mars and Duncan Kane's goodbye had taken place many years before and they had both known there'd never be another hello. Lilly knew her father had accpeted that, just as Veronica had. Still, it was sad.

"I know." Lilly said softly and she reached into the bag she carried. She couldn't do the impossible, but she had the next best thing. "I have something for you."

She took out a medium-sized box and handed it to Veronica. The box contained Duncan's most precious possessions, the ones he never left behind no matter how many moves they made or how quickly they'd had to leave. No, those things, the few things Duncan had to remind him to his true love, always went with them.

The older woman took the box, her hands shaking. She took out the contents one-by-one, a sad smile on her face as she looked at each one in turn.

The framed photo of a handsome young man, a beautiful young woman and a smiling baby.

"The only picture of the three of us." Veronica whispered, running her fingers over the glass reverently. "It was taken the day you and Duncan left."

The small stack of letters, seven in all, sent over the course of two decades.

"I agonised over each of these." Veronica confessed. "Tried to figure out how to sum a life into one short letter without leaving any details that could be traced."

Another photo, this one unframed, of four teenagers in formal gear.

"This was taken before everything." Veronica told her softly. "Back when it all seemed so simple and perfect."

The book of love poems.

"I gave him this on our first, really our only, anniversary." Veronica said, running her fingers over it.

Lastly, the small gold wedding band.

"He wore that every day." Lilly told Veronica softly.

Veronica fiddled with the gold chain around her neck, the chain holding the matching ring. "I thought about taking it off, when..." Veronica told her gently. "But I couldn't, so I moved it to a chain instead. I'm lucky. I married an understanding man."

Yes, Veronica was married. Lilly had almost forgotten that. Which was weird, since that letter was burnt into her brain.  
_  
/My Darling,_

_I barely know how to write this._

_I'm getting married. I'm so sorry and it doesn't..._

_I t doesn't change what we were. I think of the vows we exchange and they're still **so** real to me. I suppose you're wondering if they're real, then how can I be doing this?_

_It's weird, I've dated, I've fallen in love and I knew you'd understand, because you'd know it wouldn't change anything. I wish I could feel the same about this, but I'm afraid that you will see it as betrayal, but it wasn't meant to be._

_It's been ten years and I'm lonely... It's not... Him... That was over years ago. But you do know him, the man I'm marrying, I wish I could tell you his name, but we both know I can't. He's a good man and he loves me. Perhaps, he's **too **good for me, given that I can't really give him what he deserves, after all I've given so much of myself to you. Still, he knows all about you, both of you, and he swears it doesn't matter to me, that he loves me enough to accept it. He says he understands._

_I only hope you understand about him. I **do** love you, now and forever and I miss you and our daughter so much. There's never a day I don't wish you were here with me, but I need to stop living in dreams and focus on reality. Maybe it's selfish... But I need something, someone, after all you have our daughter, and I only have memories, and he's a good man and I love him, not the way I loved you, never that, but..._

_I just wanted you to know, I thought about lying, but I owed you truth. I always wanted you to know that I might be marrying someone else, but in my heart, I'll **always** be your wife._

_Forever/  
_  
"Where is your husband?" Lilly asked her, looking around the house and realizing how quie it was.

"At work." Veronica said softly. "He'll be excited to meet you."

"He will?" Lilly asked doubtfully. How excited could a man be to meet his wife's ex-lover's child, one that was never hers to begin with?

"Leo's a good man, probably better than I deserve." Veronica told her. "He's always known about you."

"Dad understood." Lilly said quietly. "He never blamed you for getting married. He said that he didn't let you come with him, because he wanted you to have a chance for a real life, not one on the run and that included marriage and children."

"I know." Veronica told her. "He wrote and told me that... It meant a lot."

"You're husband really understands?" Lilly asked softly, still wondering how it was possible. "I mean... I'm not..."

"You** are** mine." Veronica told her quietly. "In every way that counts. I've always thought of you like that and Leo accepts that. He knows that I hoped and prayed I'd see you again and I've prepared my children for that, told them about you. I always believed, this day would come."

Lilly smiled mistily. It was so good to hear that. She still thought the story was tragic and confusing. The idea that two lives could get so complicated, that they could be in love, but be pulled apart by thing that had nothing to do with them and spend their entire lives living with the choice they'd had to make... It was so sad and Lilly couldn't imagine for twenty years, loving a child that wasn't even yours who you haven't seen in two decades and not being able to truly let go of the past, even as you moved... She couldn't imagine a bond like that. Yet, she looked at Veronica and saw that maybe it was complicated and tragic, but it was real and amazing and she was the product of that incredible bond, though not in a conventional sort.

"Welcome home, Lilly.' Veronica told her softly.

Home. It was weird, but that's where she was. After twenty years of never having a home, she had come to a place where she had always dreamed of, the place she belonged.

Lilly smiled brightly. "Thanks, Mom."

* * *


	2. Part Two: Long Lost Daughter

Reunion  
By Misha

_Disclaimer and Notes in Part One._

Part Two- Long-Lost Daughter

Veronica still couldn't believe what was happening. Lilly was there, right in front of her. Her baby had come home.

Yes, technically, Lilly had never been hers. They shared no DNA, no years of memories, nothing that would link them in the eyes of the world as mother and daughter, yet they always had been. Since the moment Veronica had promised Meg, she'd care for her child, she'd thought of that child as her own.

Veronica smiled. "There's a lot to do." She told Lilly. "I have to call Leo and my dad." She made a face. "I should probably call the Kanes as well."

She didn't get along with Celeste and twenty years hadn't changed that, but they occasionally kept in touch. Rather, Veronica occasionally kept in touch with Jake, whom she did get along with.

"My grandparents, right?" Lilly asked softly.

Veronica nodded. "Yeah." She looked at Lilly. "They're good people." She assured the girl. "They'll want to see you."

It was true. After their initial reaction, Jake and Celeste had come around, eager to find Duncan and their grandchild. They seemed honestly regretful that they would never get to know their granddaughter.

Lilly just nodded and Veronica went to use the phone.

"D'Amato Security and Investigations."

"Hey Laura, is my husband in?" Veronica asked, speaking to the secretary she and Leo shared.

"Just one moment." Laura said and put her through.

"Hello?"

"Hey baby." Veronica greeted warmly.

"Veronica." Leo acknowledged. "What's up?"

"Can you come home right away?" Veronica asked him. "I have big news and I don't want to share it over the phone."

She could hear Leo rustling through some papers in the background. "Yeah, I can get away." He confirmed after a minute. "I'll see you in a few minutes."

"Perfect." Veronica said and then hung up.

She knew Leo would be happy for her, he'd always been amazingly understanding about the subject of Lilly. More understanding than most men would be. Buit then, Leo was an amazing man, for all that it had taken her a long time to see that. Veronica knew how lucky she was to have him for her husband and she loved him deeply, though not in the way she loved Duncan, would always love Duncan.

_True love stories never have endings._

She still had that fortune and it still rang true. Nothing, not seperation, not death, could end her love for Duncan.

That didn't stop her from having other loves, though. Duncan had understood that.

_My Love, _

_The idea of you being someone else's wife kill me, but I understand. It's been years and the last thing I ever wanted was for you to stop living. No, I want you to be happy, even if that happiness means you being with someone else. _

_I know that it doesn't change your love for me or for our daughter and I'll make sure she knows that too. In my heart, though, you'll always be my wife and no one elses. _

_Forever, _

_Your Husband_

"Mom?"

Veronica turned to Lilly, who had come up behind her. "Sorry, Darling." She said with a smile. "I juts got lost in my memories."

"Of Dad?" Lilly asked softly.

"Yes." Veronica confirmed. "It's hard to believe that he's gone."

Somehow, she'd held onto the idea that she'd get to see him again, someday. Now, to face once and for all, that she'd never see him again, that the goodbye they'd shared all those years ago had been forever... It was painful, that was for certain.

Veronica shook her head and looked at Lilly. "Let's go get you settled in."

"I can go get a hotel room." Lilly offered.

Veronica shot her a look. "No way. I've waited a long time to have you under my roof and I'm not going to miss a minute of it."

She still couldn't believe it, after all this time, her baby had come home!

* * *


End file.
